Dr. Carl Rogers

Dr. Carl R. Rogers was a pioneering psychotherapist in the 1950s—1980s and a founder of humanistic psychology. His work—namely, his development of client-centered psychotherapy—has been influential for decades in many fields even beyond that of psychology. In 1969, Rogers published a book that adapted his psychotherapeutic approach to education; Freedom to Learn: A View of What Education Might Become presented an ideal paradigm shift to the “learner-centered model” in which the teacher was no longer an authoritarian in the classroom. Through the use of diaries from actual teachers, Rogers attacked the traditional notions of education in favor of a classroom atmosphere that is student-centered with “an unstructured or non-directive approach… to build a more exciting and stimulating classroom" (Smith, 2002). His work received much criticism at the time, but has become increasingly relevant and revered and paved the way for modern education and behavior management theory.The core of student-centered learning is a humanistic approach to all things. In this way, Dr. Carl Rogers differed from one of his most notable peers, the famous behaviorist B.F. Skinner, who saw man as an “organic machine” (as cited in Swaim, 1972, p. 3). At a 1956 symposium that featured Rogers and Skinner, Rogers explained his approach, stating: "There is a lot about behaviorism that I accept, I was simply trying to go beyond it…. The assumption is that the subjective human being has an importance and a value which is basic: that no matter how he may be labeled or evaluated he is a human person first of all and most deeply. He is not only a machine, not only a collection of stimulus-response bonds, not an object, not a pawn" (as cited in Swaim, pp. 3-4, 6). In recognizing that everyone is “a human person first of all,” Rogers gave voice to the idea that each person—or student—responds differently to input based on their experiences and perceptions, unlike Skinner’s “machines.” Because everyone’s experiences are different, it follows that their learning experiences should (and will) be too. Rogers’ student-centered model embraces student differences and empowers individuals to take part in their learning. In an interview, Rogers explained: “Humanistic education is all for the sharing of power and empowering individuals to make decisions and choices for themselves” (as cited in Robinson, 1985, pp. 100-101). Rogers firmly believed that relevancy to the student was critical for learning: if students do not believe that what they are learning is important, they will not learn it. Once criticized, today this idea is a basic tenet of Understanding by Design, a widely recognized framework for educational planning. Rogers believed that when students feel that material is being forced upon them, they become fearful and “threatened” and the learning environment is destroyed. Students should feel supported in the class and free to explore concepts and connections in their own way (Rogers, 2001). In order to achieve this, Rogers envisioned the teacher as a “facilitator of learning,” who “really shows an understanding of [the students’] feelings, their reactions, their resistances, their excitements, [and] who is able to provide a wealth of resources” (as cited in Robinson, 1985, p. 102). By focusing on the students and acting as a guide, not an expert, Rogers believed that students would take ownership of their learning outcomes. Ideally, according to Rogers, students should “undergo the pain and difficulty of deciding, ‘In what direction do I want to go? What things do I want to learn?’” and afterward “have the satisfaction of knowing, ‘I did this myself; I chose my direction,’ ‘I did this—I can be creative,’ ‘I can learn something. I can grasp a new subject’” (as cited in Robinson, 1985, p. 102). These are all positive reactions to learning that will hopefully spark interest, inspiration, and confidence, all of which fall in line with the goal of education to foster creative and independent thinkers for the future. In a teacher-centered environment, in which the teacher is an authoritative figure dispensing wisdom for students to glean, it would be difficult to create and autonomous student population; the students would depend on the teacher for daily classroom rituals, learning, etc. Rogers found this method of teaching ironic, saying, “One thing that greatly disturbs me is that we regard ourselves as a democratic nation and give a lot of lip service to democracy, and yet the schools model a strictly autocratic system” (as cited in Robinson, 1985, p. 104). In this light, a classroom behavior plan that focuses on the teacher undermines the American value of democracy and does not instill the type of skills necessary to participate effectively in such an environment. A classroom should reflect the community that students will eventually be expected to be a part of, and hopefully that community will involve more than following directions and engaging in one-sided inquiries.

H. Jerome Freiberg

Ultimately, in a student-centered learning environment the most important emphasis is what the students do, and not what the teacher does. H. Jerome Freiberg, currently a curriculum and instruction professor at the University of Houston and editor of the Journal of Classroom Interaction, continues to adapt Dr. Carl Rogers’ learner-centered model to education and behavior management today. He played a critical role in moving Houston school district from corporal punishment to a more proactive discipline approach called “Consistency Management and Cooperative Discipline.” Freiberg designed this system to prevent behavior problems by assigning students classroom duties that used to be performed by teachers, such as passing out items or getting involved in peer mediation (Achen, 2004). Following in the same vein as Rogers, this helps students “buy in” to their classroom and give them some sense of ownership and responsibility. According to an article in The Houston Chronicle, Houston school district ended the practice of paddling students in 1997 and officially banned corporal punishment in 2001. By 2004, the number of disciplinary actions had increased by fifty-six percent district-wide. But at the seventy-one schools who adopted Freiberg’s behavior management system, discipline referrals decreased by an average of twenty-five percent (Achen, 2004). Although these numbers are not a concrete way to measure the true effect of Dr. Carl Rogers’ theories at work in terms of student ownership in the curriculum or engagement in class, it is a small sign that the humanist approach to education and a student-centered classroom not based on authoritative discipline and fear is a step in the right direction.